“Tobacco smoking leads to low sperm count, weak erection”

Dr Joseph Natsah of General Hospital Kachia in Kaduna State, has advised youths against tobacco smoking, saying it leads to impotence.Natsah said in an interview on Tuesday in Kaduna that tobacco smoking results in low sperm count, weak erection and impotence.He warned girls involved in smoking to desist from the habit as it would also prevent them from either conceiving or having still birth.Natsah said tobacco smoke generally has adverse effect on every organ of the body, including the immune system.The medical practitioner listed some of the conditions generated by smoking to include coronary and heart disease,  as well as breathlessness and influenza,He also said that smoking causes cancer, such as leukaemia, cancer of the bladder, throat and stomach.Also, a laboratory technician, Miss Mercy Onu said smoking was contributing to higher percentage of deformed sperms and impotency.She also said it contributed to “painful ulcers along the digestive tract and build up fatty deposit on the artery walls”, thereby leading to low blood flow and heart attack.A police sergeant, Dalhatu Konkiyel, who said he was a “retired chronic smoker”, said that he experienced various health challenges while smoking.Some of the challenges, he said, were poor vision, high blood pressure, common cold , tooth decay, gum disease, sleeping and blood circulation problems.He advised the youths not to indulge in the habit, to avoid early death and psychological trauma.Konkiyel called on the Federal Government to ban the manufacture, distribution, sale and smoking of tobacco in the country. (NAN)

Gov Mimiko forged Ondo 2007 Guber Security Reports – SSS DG

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo State has praised a police report alleging forgery of security reports on the 2007 gubernatorial election as the reason for the judicial defeat of its candidate and former governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu at the Court of Appeal.

The party, in a statement made available to Vanguard alongside a report of the Police on the election, lamented the continued sustenance of the Labour Party in government despite what it claimed were the security reports.

The police report allegedly fingered the erstwhile chairman of Labour Party, LP, Dr. Olaiya Oni, as the provider of the forged security reports to the LP legal team.

The report endorsed by the PDP Chairman, Ebenezer Alabi, and Secretary, Oyedele Ibine, follows contentions arising from a petition filed to the Inspector-General of Police by Dr. Agagu on the purported forgery of security report allegedly used in ousting him from power by the Court of Appeal in 2009.

The police report was endorsed by CP Ali Amodu.

PDP quotes police

PDP said: “A letter was written to the Director-General of the State Security Services, SSS, Abuja, to confirm if the SSS report in Ondo State during the 2007 gubernatorial elections were forged.

“The Director-General, in his reply, confirmed that the SSS reports tendered at the tribunal were forged and he clarified the differences between the agency’s authentic reports and the forged ones that were tendered.”

A letter was also written to the Registrar, Court of Appeal, Benin, where the case went on appeal, to furnish the records of proceedings of the case to enable the Police identify who tendered the documents.

“In vol. X of the records of proceeding obtained from Court of Appeal, Benin, it was observed that the nine forged security reports marked as exhibits 1100(1)-(9) were tendered across the bar.

“On the 11 March 2008, when Dr. Olaiya Oni, Chairman of the Labour Party, Ondo State chapter, gave his evidence in court, he identified the nine forged security reports as parts or the documents he received.

“Based on the findings from the records of proceedings that Dr. Oni identified and confirmed he was the person who received the forged SSS reports, he was invited and he volunteered cautionary statements to the Police.”

In the statement to the police, quoted by alleged report, Oni purportedly admitted that he received and passed on the alleged forged security report to the legal team.

Reports’ recommendation

In its conclusion and recommendation, the police report deposed: “From investigation conducted, it is clear that the security reports, which Oni admitted he received and gave to his lawyers to tender at the Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal, Akure, were forged.

“There is no doubt that Oni conspired with others he has refused to mention to forge the reports and handed them over to the legal team.

“It is, therefore, recommended that he be arraigned in court for forgery and uttering of forged documents.”

Ondo govt responds

The report and contention of PDP were, however, dismissed by the Ondo State Commissioner-nominnee for Information, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, who said Oni should be prosecuted if he claimed to have compromised security reports.

He discredited Oni, who he said admitted leaving LP because he was not provided with patronage.

Akinmade said LP and the Ondo administration were looking beyond 2007 issues, saying that almost every human being that witnessed the election acknowledged Mimiko as the winner of that election, which forced the authorities to shift the declaration of the result to Abuja.

Source: Vanguard.

Merger process is unstoppable – Buhari

The National Leader of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), rtd. Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, said on Thursday that the merger process by opposition parties was unstoppable.

Buhari said this during the CPC Board of Trustee (BOT) meeting in Abuja, adding that it had also caught the imagination and attention of the nation.

The leader said that the party had launched its project for repositioning and pursuing the issue of merger.

“I have requested for and you approved the formation of a CPC Merger Committee to negotiate all issues pertaining to the merger and the holding of congresses in states run by caretaker committees, ” he said.

Buhari said that the party had adopted “direct primaries in elections and bio metric data card registration for party members”.

Others, he added, were the establishment of a secretariat to direct the work of the party’s legislators and empanelling of a Convention Committee.

According to him, the party has also begun the revamping of CPC propaganda machine, setting up proper accounting and auditing units and budget committee, among others.

He said the momentum and tempo that the merger developed had overtaken the work of some other committees created during its meeting.

He urged the merger committee, which concluded its assignment recently, to study the provision of the new APC constitution and determine whether it had adequate checks and balances in place.

Buhari advised the committee to consider the contents of the political association’s manifesto, to know if they were written in a way to facilitate the realisation of the mission of CPC.

He said the contents should also lead to the attainment of the goals the party had pencilled down for the people.

Buhari urged the committee to carefully read the options proposed for the transition management structure of the proposed party and choose which option would best satisfy the teeming supporters of the party.

The leader said that the conclusion on the work of the merger and convention committees would decide whether to pass the motion for the dissolution of the party (CPC).

On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before the National Assembly, Buhari said it was up to state assemblies to decide whether to accept and pass it as required by the constitution.

“I am very pleased that a number of governors have taken interest and are making their inputs into the review of PIB.”

CPC National Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh, said the All Progressive Change had no problem with its acronym, APC. (NAN)

Nigerian Film Corporation plans to target investors ... at Cannes film festival

The Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC) said on Friday that the corporation would promote the Nigerian film industry at the 2013 Film Festival in Cannes, France.

The festival is the 66th edition of the fiesta which is scheduled to hold from May 15 to May 26.

 The acting Managing Director of NFC, Tekena Benibo, said in in Abuja that NFC would dialogue with interested parties and offer incentives that would attract investors to Nigeria in order to enhance the quality of movies produced in the industry.

He said that attractive tax incentives, custom clearance facilities and funding schemes were crucial in supporting the development of the industry in Nigeria.

 ``Each time you go to film festivals and film markets like this, visitors will be coming to your stand or to your pavilion asking you questions about your industry, what do you have to offer?

 ``They will be coming with proposals like ‘can I get a Nigerian film production company to do co-production with us’. ‘Do you have incentives such as tax incentives, custom clearance facilities or procedures or processes’ they will ask you all of that.

 ``And they will also ask you ‘do you have funding that can support such productions if we come in’.

 ``Yes they will be coming in with their money, but they want to find out whether we have the capacity to support productions like that.’’

 Benibo also said that the corporation would partner with the Nigerian Export Import (NEXIM) Bank, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to address some of the challenges that could slow down efforts at developing the movie industry.

 According to him, Lagos State has expressed its interest to participate in the festival and sell Nigeria as an attractive destination for entrepreneurs seeking to invest in the nation’s film industry.

 He said: ``Similarly, Kano State with its `Kannywood’ plans to promote its own genre of film production at the festival in Cannes.’’

Source-Daily Times.